The federal government plans to restructure the management
and operation of the laboratories to adopt a model under which
the government will own the facilities and a private contractor
will run them, Oliver said in a statement released today. The
labs, located in Chalk River, Ont., produce medical isotopes
that help to treat diseases such as cancer.

A reactor at the labs supplies isotopes to companies such
as Nordion Inc. of Ottawa. The government shut down the reactor
for repairs in 2009 for more than a year.

Canada sold AECL’s CANDU reactor division in 2011 to SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., a Montreal-based construction and
engineering company based in Montreal. The government is
assessing whether to invest in “longer-term nuclear
innovation,” according to the statement.